PermMuseum XXI
Artforum reports that the PermMuseumXXI museum center has finally announced the winning architectural firms in the competition for a new building for Perm Art Gallery, a museum in Russia slated to focus on the twenty-first century.

Winning design by Bernaskoni (Source: ArchCenter / PermMuseum XXI)

 The architectural firms Bernaskoni (Russia) and Valerio Olgiati (Switzerland) are the joint winners of the design competition. Zaha Hadid, based in London, was awarded the third prize. It took the jury, led by Swiss architect Peter Zumthor, two days to decide how to distribute 240.000 dollar prize money among the winners.

Serpentine Pavilion 2008
Frank Gehry’s plans for the Serpentine Gallery’s 2008 pavilion have been unveiled, reports Artdaily. Gehry said: “The pavilion is much like an amphitheater, designed to serve as a place for live events, music, performance, discussion, and debate.”

Model of Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2008 designed by Frank Gehry © Gehry Partners LLP 2008 

The highly articulated structure – designed and engineered in collaboration with Arup – comprises large timber planks and multiple glass planes that soar and swoop at different angles to create a dramatic multi-dimensional space. The pavilion will be the architect’s first built structure in England and his first time collaborating with his son Samuel.

 Her Majesty Queen Beatrix of The Netherlands, during a guided tour of CORPUS, which opened to the public on March 20th 2008.

Ever wanted to take a stroll through the human body? A new museum in the Netherlands lets you do just that. CORPUS (Latin for ‘body’) is a new museum on the outskirts of the Hague in the Netherlands that is both a science education centre and an amusement park. It offers a ‘journey through the human body’ during which the visitor can see, feel and hear how the human body works and what roles healthy food, healthy life and plenty of exercise plays.

The museum attraction offers a variety of information and provides education and entertainment with this journey as well as a vast number of permanent and variable exhibitions. This concept has been realised in a 35-meter high transparent building, which incorporates an awkward looking seated human figure that reaches 35meters high.

The makers of the museum attraction are hoping that a combination amusement park and health education museum will encourage kids to take better care of their own bodies. Questions as ‘Why do I have to sleep?’, ‘what happens when I sneeze’, ‘how does my hair grow’ are answered in CORPUS by means of tangible, visible and audible conceptions. They have used the latest technology in the field of imagery, sound and 3D effects to present and explain all aspects of the medical aspects of the human body.

The awkward looking body/building that houses CORPUS is situated along the A44 highway between Amsterdam and The Hague in The Netherlands.

Click here for more information and images from WTOL
Read an article (Building, March 27, 2008)
Go to CORPUS website

The Chanel Mobile Art by Zaha Hadid raises curiosity and provides a stunning contrast to the local skyline.  (Photo: Tony Sze/Chanel)

A few weeks ago, a squat, white structure, designed by architect Zaha Hadid, took shape on a car park rooftop in Hong Kong. The container houses a major international art show, which is called Chanel Mobile Art and is being financed by the French luxury goods company. The exhibition in Hong Kong, the first stop of a two-year world tour, runs until April 5 and showcases the works of 20 international contemporary artists.

Chanel required all the artists to produce work inspired by the quilted handbag, the “2.55,” for “February 1955″ when it was designed by Coco Chanel. Exhibit highlights include a film by Nobuyoshi Araki of Japan of a (Chanel) chained woman; tattooed stuffed pigs and matching purses by Wim Delvoye of Belgium. The exhibit moves to Tokyo in July and New York in September. The Chanel boutique nearby sells a limited-edition Mobile Art 2.55 bag in black for about $3,000.

Personal reactions to the show have ranged from comments like “a very nice escape” to “very French, pretentious, verbose, bossy.” However, the show has been fully booked up to the closing date. In 2009, it will be shown in London and Moscow, and will end in Paris in July 2010.

Overview of the the Chanel Mobile Art pavilion on Hong Kong’s harbour front.

Read the in-depth review in the International Herald Tribune (March 24, 2008)
Go to Chanel Mobile Art website

At the Hyde Park Art Center, an 80-foot-long gallery starts on an outside wall of the building with a projection screen for video art. (Photo: Joshua Lott for The New York Times)

New museum projects trumpet a $100 million redesign here, a $300 million building there. As part of their annual Museum special, the New York Times praises the $3 million Hyde Park Art Center in Chicago, proving that not all museum construction has to cost in the nine figures.

The museum hired Douglas Garofalo, architect and a pioneer in digital design, who kept the warehouse’s original shape but gutted the interior. He wanted a building that “changes every time people come.” He designed an 80-foot-long L.E.D. projection facade along the east wall — a 21st-century canvas to display video artwork. He then placed five corrugated metal garage doors below the projection screen. When opened, they create a plaza extending the main gallery onto the street.

Exterior Hyde Park Art Center  (Photo: Ricardo Phillips)

Go to website Hyde Park Art Center
Go to ‘Museums: a Special Section’ (New York Times, March 2008)

During a discussion with Vincent de Keijzer from the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, Niels Huijbregts of XS4ALL, and Nir Nussbaum and Marijn Koolen of the Informatics Institute of the University of Amsterdam, the idea rose to create a platform of museum professionals working in the field of opening up museums through new media and technology. In the spirit of this idea the platform should be open too, accessible for anyone with an interest in this field.

A working title that was coined is The ‹Open Museum Network›. This network should bridge the information gap between audiences and museums, and will focus on pragmatic experiments with new applications, projects and otherwise simple and elegant solutions to make museums more accessible and audiences better equipped. Topics of interest are such imaginative examples of the ‹Wikimuseum› (Powerhouse Museum), the ‹Flickr-exhibition› (Tate Modern) and the ‹Open Source Activities› (n8).

A work in progress, however an acute one, looking at the many international projects on the horizon. Would anyone reading this from abroad be interested in joining the discussion?